Rastatt Fortress

Last updated

Coordinates: 48°51′30″N08°12′38″E / 48.85833°N 8.21056°E / 48.85833; 8.21056

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.

Contents

Plan of the fortress in 1849 Festung Rastatt, Plan 1849.jpg
Plan of the fortress in 1849

Rastatt Fortress (German : Bundesfestung Rastatt) was built from 1842 to 1852. The construction of this federal fortress was one of the few projects that the German Confederation was able to complete. The fortress site covered the Baden town of Rastatt and, in 1849, played an important role during the Baden Revolution. It was abandoned in 1890 and most of it was eventually demolished.

German language West Germanic language

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

German Confederation association of 39 German states in Central Europe from 1815 to 1866

The German Confederation was an association of 39 German-speaking states in Central Europe, created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries and to replace the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806. The German Confederation excluded German-speaking lands in the eastern portion of the Kingdom of Prussia, the German cantons of Switzerland, and Alsace within France which was majority German speaking.

Grand Duchy of Baden grand duchy between 1806 and 1918

The Grand Duchy of Baden was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.

Background

On 3 November 1815, in the margins of the Paris Peace Conference the four victorious powers - Austria, Great Britain Prussia and Russia Mainz, Luxemburg and Landau were designated as fortresses of the German Confederation and, moreover, they envisaged that a fourth federal fortress on the Upper Rhine, for which 20 million French francs were to be set aside from the war reparations. [1] As early as 1819 to 1824 a fortress construction commission was formed in which Baden, Bavarian, Württemberg and Austrian engineers jointly produced the plans, which were then shelved for 20 years for political reasons. [2] Whilst Austria wanted to extend Ulm, Prussia and the south German states nearer to France favoured the construction of a fortress in Rastatt. In October 1836 the king of Württemberg, William I, proposed a compromise which was to build or extend both towns into fortresses. In 1838/39 Bavaria and Austria were won over. Not until the Rhine Crisis of 1840/41 did it happen, however, that the states of the German Confederation come to an understanding about defence measures against France and the federal assembly on 26 March 1841 agreed the construction of both fortresses. [3] Rastatt was designated as a linking and border fortress, as well as an armoury for the VIII Army Corps. [4] The Grand Duchy of Baden was given the right to appoint the governor, the commandant and the chief of artillery, the chief of engineers was to be appointed by Austria.

Treaty of Paris of 1815, was signed on 20 November 1815 following the defeat and second abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. In February, Napoleon had escaped from his exile on Elba; he entered Paris on 20 March, beginning the Hundred Days of his restored rule. Four days after France's defeat in the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was persuaded to abdicate again, on 22 June. King Louis XVIII, who had fled the country when Napoleon arrived in Paris, took the throne for a second time on 8 July.

Austrian Empire monarchy in Central Europe between 1804 and 1867

The Austrian Empire was a Central European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, it was the third most populous empire after the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom in Europe. Along with Prussia, it was one of the two major powers of the German Confederation. Geographically, it was the third largest empire in Europe after the Russian Empire and the First French Empire. Proclaimed in response to the First French Empire, it partially overlapped with the Holy Roman Empire until the latter's dissolution in 1806.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Historical sovereign state from 1801 to 1927

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland.

Construction

Fortress quarry on the Eichelberg Festungssteinbruch Eichelberg IMGP8176.jpg
Fortress quarry on the Eichelberg

Work on the federal fortress of Rastatt began on 15 November 1842 although its foundation stone was not laid until 18 October 1844, because laborious preparatory work was needed. This included the purchase of parcels of land or their requisition in return for compensation. In addition, to municipal and royal land, the properties of 345 private individuals were bought or requisitioned for the fortress. [5]

The construction of the fortress resulted in an enormous economic upturn for the town, which was later paid for however with the departure of public facilities such as the court (Hofgericht) and county council (Kreisregierung). [6] The Austrian lieutenant colonel, Georg Eberle was appointed as the senior fortress construction engineer and almost all the management staff were from Austria. The large number of construction workers employed (in 1844 4,000 [7] ) made the expansion of municipal infrastructure (police and medical services) necessary, the financing of which caused disputes between the town, the grand duchy and federal military authorities. The majority of the construction stone came from a roughly 500-metre-long bunter sandstone quarry on the hill of Eichelberg near Oberweier and was transported to Rastatt on a 14.5-kilometre-long, horse-drawn wagonway, [8] its capacity being 400 cubic metres per day. In the quarry 400-1200 workers were employed, for whom a special hutted camp was built. In addition to locals, there were workers from Württemberg, Austria, South Tyrol and Italy. [9] It was planned to complete the construction in 1849, but this did not come to fruition due to financial problems and the intervention of the Baden Revolution.

Wagonway

Wagonways consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway and dramway were used. The advantage of wagonways was that far bigger loads could be transported with the same power.

The Baden Revolution of 1848/1849 was a regional uprising in the Grand Duchy of Baden which was part of the revolutionary unrest that gripped almost all of Central Europe at that time.

In 1848 the fortress was opened with the appointment of its first governor, Lieutenant General Carl Felix von Lassolaye. [10]

Following its interruption by the Baden Revolution in 1849, work restarted in 1850, but came to a provisional halt in 1852. After serious disputes over its further expansion and funding, especially between Prussia and Austria, [11] – the town defences and the station lunettes were finished in the period 1852–1854, and, in 1856, two outworks were completed.

Today

Karlsruhe Gate Karlsruher Tor.jpg
Karlsruhe Gate
Kehl Gate Kehler Tor.jpg
Kehl Gate
Casemates Rastatt Kasematten.JPG
Casemates

Rastatt Fortress was abandoned in 1890, [12] because it had lost its position on the border and hence its importance. The site was mostly sold in 1892 to the town of Rastatt as a source of construction material. After the German Empire had lost the First World War, it was laid down in the Treaty of Versailles in Article 180, that Germany had to slight its fortresses east of the Rhine along a 50-mile corridor. The Interallied Military Control Commission also laid down which remains of the abandoned Rastatt Fortress still had to be demolished.

The casemates are accessible and guided tours are offered. In the eastern part of the old Leopold Fortress 500 metres of passageway may be visited.

Related Research Articles

German revolutions of 1848–49 German part of the Revolutions of 1848

The German revolutions of 1848–49, the opening phase of which was also called the March Revolution, were initially part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many European countries. They were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire. The revolutions, which stressed pan-Germanism, demonstrated popular discontent with the traditional, largely autocratic political structure of the thirty-nine independent states of the Confederation that inherited the German territory of the former Holy Roman Empire.

Frankfurt Parliament first parliament for all of Germany (1849-1849)

The Frankfurt Parliament was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany, elected on 1 May 1848.

Karl Drais german inventor of early form of bicycle and typewriter

Karl Freiherr von Drais was a German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier period.

Rastatt Place in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Rastatt is a town with a baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, 6 km (3.7 mi) above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was an important place of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

Gustav Struve American journalist

Dr. Gustav Struve, known as Gustav von Struve until he gave up his title, was a German surgeon, politician, lawyer and publicist, and a revolutionary during the German revolution of 1848-1849 in Baden Germany. He also spent over a decade in the United States and was active there as a reformer.

Bundesautobahn 5 federal motorway in Germany

Bundesautobahn 5 is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection (with the A 7. The southern end is at the Swiss border near Basel. It runs through the German states of Hessen and Baden-Württemberg and connects on its southern ending to the Swiss A 2.

Badnerlied national anthem

The Badnerlied is the unofficial hymn of the former state of Baden, now part of Baden-Württemberg.

Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway transport company

The Grand Duchy of Baden was an independent state in what is now southwestern Germany until the creation of the German Empire in 1871. It had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways, which was founded in 1840. At the time when it was integrated into the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920, its network had an overall length of about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi).

Gustav Nikolaus Tiedemann was a German soldier who joined the revolutionaries during the Revolutions of 1848 in Germany, eventually becoming the commander of the last holdout of the revolution, the fortress at Rastatt.

Karl Friedrich Nebenius German politician

Karl Friedrich Nebenius was a Baden minister and author of their 1818 constitution.

Under the term of the 1815 Peace of Paris, France was obliged to pay for the construction of a line of fortresses to protect the German Confederation against any future aggression by France. All fortresses were located outside Austria and Prussia — the two biggest, bickering powers of the Confederation.

Palatine uprising

The Palatine uprising was a rebellion that took place in May and June 1849 in the Rhenish Palatinate, then an exclave territory of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Related to uprisings across the Rhine River in Baden, it was part of the widespread Imperial Constitution Campaign (Reichsverfassungskampagne). Revolutionaries worked to defend the Constitution as well as to secede from the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The Battle of Rinnthal was the heaviest battle of the Palatine uprising and took place on 17 June 1849 near Rinnthal in the Annweiler valley in Europe. The revolutionary troops under August Willich tried in vain to halt the advance of Prussian troops on Landau.

Imperial Constitution campaign

The Imperial Constitution campaign was an initiative driven by radical democratic politicians in Germany in the mid-19th century that developed into the civil warlike fighting in several German states known also as the May Uprisings (Maiaufstände). These conflicts against the counter-revolutionaries began in May 1849 and varied in length and intensity depending on the region. Some lasted until July that year. They marked the end phase of the popular and nationalist March Revolution that had started a good year before in March 1848.

The VIII Army Corps was a mixed corps of the army of the German Confederation, which was made up of contingents from Württemberg, Baden and Hesse. Until 1830 contingents from Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Liechtenstein also belonged to this corps.

Storming of Freiburg

The Storming of Freiburg took place on 24 April 1848 during the Baden Revolution. Units of the VIII Army Corps of the German Confederation stormed the town of Freiburg im Breisgau, which was occupied by republican volunteers (Freischärlern).

Battle on the Scheideck

The Battle on the Scheideck, also known as the Battle of Kandern took place on 20 April 1848 during the Baden Revolution on the Scheideck Pass southeast of Kandern in south Baden in what is now southwest Germany. Friedrich Hecker's Baden band of revolutionaries encountered troops of the German Confederation under the command of General Friedrich von Gagern. After several negotiations and some skirmishing a short battle ensued on the Scheideck, in which von Gagern fell and the rebels were scattered. The German Federal Army took up the pursuit and dispersed a second revolutionary force that same day under the leadership of Joseph Weißhaar. The Battle on the Scheideck was the end of the road for the two rebel forces. After the battle, there were disputes over the circumstances of von Gagern's death.

Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck German military personnel

Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Bismarck was a German lieutenant general, diplomat and military writer. He wrote several major military-political works and military histories, which were very pro-Napoleon.

References

  1. ↑ Procès-verbal de la conférence de M. M. les plénipotentiaires des quatre puissances du 3. Novembre 1815 à Paris, Annexe B, Système défensif de la confédération germanique. Art. 10, dated 3 November 1815. In: Staatsarchiv des Deutschen Bundes, published by Johann Ludwig Klüber, Vol. I, 3rd Issue, Erlangen, 1816, pp. 389–391 online at Google Books
  2. ↑ Müller, p. 499
  3. ↑ Printed by Philipp Anton Guido von Meyer: Corpus constitutionum Germaniae, oder Die sämmtlichen Verfassungen der Staaten Deutschlands, Frankfurt am Main, 1845, pp. 95–96 online at Google Books
  4. ↑ s. Staatslexikon, p. 509.
  5. ↑ Müller, p. 505
  6. ↑ Fickler, p. 3
  7. ↑ from 1843 to 1848 an average of 4,000 workers were employed to build the fortress, reaching a peak of 6,000; Müller, p. 501
  8. ↑ s. www.bundesfestung-rastatt.de; retrieved 22 November 2013
  9. ↑ Müller, p. 502
  10. ↑ Entry online – Leo-bw; Entry in the Baden Biographies
  11. ↑ Rößler, pp. 265–266
  12. ↑ The State Defence Commission in Berlin decided to close the fortress as early as 1887; the imperial cabinet order was dated 4 March 1890; Karl Stiefel: Baden 1648-1952. Karlsruhe 1979, Vol. 2, p. 1027.

Literature

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.